Royal Derby Hospital (RDH), part of Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, recently treated its first radical patient case on the ARTISTE IGRT Solution linear accelerator from Siemens Healthcare. RDH is the first UK site to install the system.
The Image-Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT) ARTISTE Solution is a linear accelerator specifically for Adaptive Radiation Therapy (ART). This technology ensures that therapeutic dose is delivered precisely to the target while sparing healthy tissue. It features the new 160 MLC with small, 5mm leaf width over the full field, allowing much greater conformance to tumour shape and size. This means that clinicians can provide the most efficient treatment plan while ensuring that patients are only exposed to a clinically relevant dose.
It also provides enhanced patient comfort and improved safety due to its open design, accommodating patients weighing up to 250kg (39 stone), maintaining a 0.2mm re-positioning accuracy. Its accessibility will reduce anxiety in those undergoing treatment, helping to improve the overall patient experience.
“The Siemens linear accelerators offer the very latest technology,” said Wendy Steele, Service Manager, Radiotherapy and Radiation Physics at RDH.
“Having three Siemens linear accelerators already installed, we knew that the ARTISTE Solution would work well with our workload. The design is also very patient friendly; only two sides of the patient are covered when they’re undergoing simultaneous treatment and imaging, which gives them a feeling of space. We have a long association with Siemens and can be assured of good treatments and a high standard of patient comfort.”
“Siemens is delighted that the first two ARTISTE systems in the UK are in place,” said Lawrence Foulsham, Product Manager for Molecular Imaging and Oncology at Siemens Healthcare. “The ARTISTE combines unique technologies and streamlined workflow, allowing clinicians to tailor treatments to each patient.”
RDH is a new £334 million build on the Trust site and is one of the biggest hospitals in the East Midlands. With the transfer of all services from Derbyshire Royal Infirmary currently underway, the new hospital is bringing all specialist treatment together on one site to provide an all inclusive service. Two ONCOR linear accelerators and a PRIMUS model, all from Siemens, are still in use on the old site; the ONCOR systems are being transferred to RDH during September.
